Shadowing Practice: Why You Can't Force Yourself to Do Anything - Learn English Speaking with Video
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67 sentences
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what would you advise people who wish to find meaning in their lives by embracing their responsibilities but find themselves unmotivated
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oh you're probably you're probably forcing yourself too much that'd be
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my guess you're using the heavy hand of power right you're you want to invite yourself to play
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so how do you do
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that well figure out a game you want to play you know
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and then make a plan it's like how do you do
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that well this is what christ tells his followers in the gospels he says knock and the door will open
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ask and you will receive seek and you'll find okay
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so you have a problem you want to be motivated
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so you have to meditate you have to pray you have to think okay
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if i could have what i needed to be enthusiastic about working towards it what would that be?
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And that's a question everyone should ask themselves.
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It's like, what the hell do you want?
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What would satisfy you?
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Well, first of all, you have to ask the question, right?
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And people don't.
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They're afraid to for all sorts of reasons.
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And then you have to accept the answer.
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And you might think, well, that's impossible.
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It's no, no. I'll tell you what's impossible.
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Stumbling forward, depressed, anxious, hopeless, and unmotivated.
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That's impossible.
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Striving to attain a difficult goal.
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that's that's a compelling challenge if you set it up properly and
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if the end is something you want it's like you could
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do this in your marriage it's like okay well i tell people to do this in local ways
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so here's an example um it's a good example imagine coming home at night after work you do
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that every day let's say take a stereotypical example
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that takes you about half an hour to make that transition
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and so that's about five percent of your life is the half an hour every day
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that you come home after work five percent of your life
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so you get 20 things like that right you got your life right
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so you might think well how would i like things to happen
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when I came home like what would motivate me to come
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home what would motivate me to keep working how would I
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like to be greeted how would I like my kids to react
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when I walk in the door what would response would I like from my wife
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so that I feel
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that the work I did during the day was justified how could I make her happy to see me
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so that we were pleased
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when we re encountered each other after a day's separation well you can sit there
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and think that through
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if you could admit it to yourself you know probably what you want isn't
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that unreasonable you might be able to negotiate that with her
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and then you'd have it and then you'd be motivated it's like
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dare to dream you know ask yourself what do i want with the presumption
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that you know if you're not completely blind and deluded and
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and greedy that you could probably have it
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and the world wouldn't fall apart just because you got something
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that you needed you could give yourself that break
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and you have to find out just like you would from
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when you're making friends with someone it's like what the hell do you want
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if i could offer you what you wanted what would it
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be well i don't know it's like well then the first
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thing you want is to know what you want there's some place to start you know
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and you can figure it out and
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if you aim small enough you can figure it out
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and then so
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if you're not motivated you're probably living someone else's dream you're
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laboring under some false illusion you're tyrannizing yourself you're taking on too much responsibility you're using power
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when invitation would suffice and you don't have a vision well it doesn't have to be
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that way you could figure out a game you want to play
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and invite yourself long and that's you can do
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that that's how life is constituted
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so don't think it's impossible it's not impossible i told you what was impossible stumbling miserably forward
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that's impossible that's for sure all right that's good thank you
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everyone thank you mick nice to see you all thank you everybody for coming
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why You Can't Force Yourself to Do Anything”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: impossible, figure, motivated, example. This video has 67 sentences and 742 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:28. The speaker talks at a natural 166 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 89% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| motivate verb | /ˈmoʊ.tɪ.veɪt/ | To provide someone with an incentive to do something; to encourage; to actuate. |
| stumble verb | /ˈstʌmbəl/ | To trip or fall; to walk clumsily. |
| unmotivated adjective | Lacking motivation, without impetus to strive or excel. | |
| compel verb | /kəmˈpɛl/ | To overpower; to subdue. |
| delude verb | /dɪˈluːd/ | To deceive into believing something which is false; to lead into error; to dupe. |
| laboring noun | The act of one who labors; toil; work done. | |
| meditate verb | /ˈmɛ.dɪˌteɪt/ | To contemplate; to keep the mind fixed upon something; to study. |
| miserably adverb | In a miserable manner. | |
| presumption noun | /pɹɪˈzʌmp.ʃən/ | The act of presuming, or something presumed. |
| stereotypical adjective | /ˌstɛɹ.iː.əˈtɪp.ɪ.kəl/ | Pertaining to a stereotype; conventional. |
| suffice verb | /səˈfaɪs/ | To be enough or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be adequate; to be good enough. |
| tyrannize verb | /ˈtɪɹ.ən.aɪz/ | To oppress (someone). |
| follower noun | /ˈfɒləʊə(ɹ)/ | One who follows, comes after another. |
| attain verb | /əˈteɪn/ | To come to or reach (a place) by motion or progression. |
| hopeless adjective | /ˈhoʊplɪs/ | Without hope; despairing; not expecting anything positive. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
| fall apart verb | To disintegrate, to break into pieces. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 25 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, don't, you'd. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: presumption /pɹɪˈzʌmp.ʃən/, illusion /ɪˈl(j)uːʒ(ə)n/, negotiate /nəˈɡəʊ.ʃi.eɪt/, anxious /ˈæŋkʃəs/, separation /ˌsɛp.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: stereotypical /ˌstɛɹ.iː.əˈtɪp.ɪ.kəl/, unreasonable /ʌnˈɹiːz.(ə)nə.bl̩/, enthusiastic /ɪnˌθjuːzɪˈæstɪk/, negotiate /nəˈɡəʊ.ʃi.eɪt/, separation /ˌsɛp.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like motivate, stumble, unmotivated.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.